[xubuntu] Second Ethernet Card Static IP Address

I am trying to setup a Xubuntu 14.04.4 LTS system (NEW INSTALL from ISO) to run Zoneminder security camera software. I want to have 2 etheet coections:
1. The on-motherboard etheet coection (setup DHCP) to talk to the inteet.
2. A PCI NIC Card setup statically to talk to the cameras (via POE switch(es)).

I think I have it setup, but I seem to have 2 issues:
Issue 1: When I boot the computer, I get this message:
Waiting for network configuration...
Waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration...

Issue 2: Trying to solve the above issue, my network-manager icon is not there and I caot access it to modify network coections. I would have never noticed, but a 'suggested' fix for the Issue above said they modified their etheet settings w/ the network-manager, but I can't seem to make that work.

SYSTEM INFO:
XUBUNTU 14.04.4 LTS amd64 from ISO CD.
Older HP 7800 desktop with 3TB harddrive. Intel core2 pro about 2.2 ghz

NOTE: I was able to install Ubuntu 14.04 and then Xubuntu (cuz I disliked the ubuntu interface) and get zoneminder ruing, but that system crashed when doing a 287MB system update. I rebooted Then, took 7 tries cuz of grub_rescue to reinstall.

Here's a block diagram of system layout:

(Router should be labeled SWITCH!)

I have modified the /etc/network/interfaces file:

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.13.13
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
#***********************END OF FILE*********************

In the above file, I did have the eth0 and eth1 swapped in my first Xubuntu install, but for some reason when I did an ip addr show, it worked out that the onboard etheet seemed to be eth1, so I went with it. This is BEFORE the interface file above was implemented.
# ip addr show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:e0:4c:24:ae:b2 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:1f:29:50:d4:b7 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.0.113/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global eth1
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 fe80::21f:29ff:fe50:d4b7/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

#ifconfig (after modifying interfaces file and rebooting)
Link here: http://www.ijohnsen.com/blog/wp-cont...g-20160321.png

#sudo lshw -c Network (after modifying interfaces file and rebooting)
Link here: http://www.ijohnsen.com/blog/wp-cont...hw-command.png

Drivers installed for PCI card (these were Xubuntu default):
lsmod | grep r8169
r8169 81920
mii 16384 1 r8169
I am able to talk to my cameras on the 192.168.13.xx addresses. So, really, it seems like the network 'works.'

I did issue a 'sudo nm-applet' and it installed the network-manager icon in Xubuntu, but everything is greyed out:
Left click on network manager: http://www.ijohnsen.com/blog/wp-cont...ng-lft-clk.png
Right click on network manager: http://www.ijohnsen.com/blog/wp-cont...ing-rt-clk.png

The nm-applet was supposed to allow me to configure my network settings that way, took me a bit to even get it showing up.

I've done some reading and tried different things and it seems like every suggestion/solution is close, but in the end I can't follow the example to completion. For example, when I boot I don't get the nm-applet to load the icon for the network-manager.

If someone has a suggestion on where I need to tu, please help. If I need to 'reinstall', I looked at several ways to do that and you can see the 7 tries I did to install this past time here: http://www.ijohnsen.com/blog/xubuntu...allation-woes/

Maybe you have a better suggestion.
Thanks in-advance,
Mark

Here are links/things I tried to figure out the issue - sigh:
This link was to use the network-manager to setup the static ip address (vs. doing it command line or file editing): http://superuser.com/questions/75199...u-14-04-trusty
But, I couldn't because I can't open the network-manager and do anything with it...
The http://docs.xubuntu.org/1404/inteet-networks.html xubuntu docs say to open the network-manager, I can't, so this didn't work.
This link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2158184 started out good, but once I get to nameservers - I don't think I need that?
Missing network-manager icon: http://askubuntu.com/questions/44965...o-14-04-trusty
More icon missing info: http://askubuntu.com/questions/51746...-on-xfce-panel